Major Insurance Co. is a $15 billion insurance company that is an active, multi-family mortgage leader. This case is part of a negotiation game simulation that also includes Sunshine Villas, Silver Lane Apartments, and Jason Bosworth.
Stream International's Crawfordsville, Indiana facilities undertake the design and implementation of an activity-based costing project. After analyzing the costs assigned to 161 work activities, Crawfordsville managers present five proposals for change based on ABM results, then meet to decide which to implement.
A brief history of foreign direct investment (FDI) is explored, emphasizing conflicts, developments in the legal framework governing FDI, and international agreements and nonbinding principles formulated to resolve disputes brought in by FDI. Propositions provide a context from which core issues may be discussed by the students.
Companies that compete effectively over the long run in technology-intensive fields exhibit an ability for both continuous (or incremental) innovations and discontinuous (or radical) innovations. The latter, which lead to the creation of entirely new businesses and product lines, pose a unique set of challenges for management. They typically require a long, investment-intensive process, marked by pervasive uncertainty, unpleasant surprises, and no guarantee of success. Conventional approaches to new product development, while appropriate for continuous innovation, are inappropriate and sometimes even detrimental when applied to the more discontinuous regime of innovations. For instance, the familiar admonition to be customer-driven is of little value when it is not at all clear who the customer is or will be, or when the product class itself does not yet exist. This article presents four discontinuous innovations--CAT scanners (by GE), optical fibers (by Corning), cellular phones (by Motorola), and NutraSweet (by Searle, now Monsanto)--which explore the process of developing discontinuous innovations and demonstrate how they are different from incremental innovation.
The case covers all major aspects of Benetton's successful corporate strategy and innovative business system from its creation till the present. It also provides a complete overview of Benetton's unique communication philosophy and the controversy generated by it, along with a wealth of independent market research data from many countries.
In February 1995, Banc One faced the replacement of the "Uncommon Partnership," a basic operating strategy that had served it well for years. Leadership now struggled with the new protocols for replacement operating strategies.
Summarizes the accounting principles governing employee stock options, including the recently issued accounting standard SFAS 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation. Presents the theoretical issues involved with valuation and measurement of employee stock-based compensation. Illustrates the accounting standard setting process in a unique and volatile situation.
Reports the strategic choices made by Dewar's and briefly describes the implementation of the campaign from its launch in September 1993 through September 1995.
Dewar's is considering employing new media options. The company had committed resources to a new CD-ROM magazine, Launch, in 1994, as its first experiment with new media. During 1994, a number of additional opportunities have been presented to both Leo Burnett and S&S including other CD-ROM "digizines" and World Wide Web sites. Jamie Prusak must now decide how to evaluate these new opportunities, as well as several other lower technology media alternatives, in terms of costs, effectiveness and efficiency, and long-term impact on the brand's two target markets.
Explores the management of technical disasters in which time plays a central role. Uses the experience of HMS Thetis and Apollo 13 to look at both successful and unsuccessful approaches.
Examines CIBA Vision's decision on whether to launch a major new R&D initiative to develop a low-cost, daily disposable contact lens, and how to organize such a project should it proceed. One group of executives favors setting up a small, autonomous project team organizationally and geographically isolated from the company's existing R&D operations. This approach will enable focus, but poses serious issues concerning future integration.
Describes the competitive position of Arborite, a Canadian manufacturer of high-pressure laminates (HPL) (a product sold under the Formica name in the United States). Arborite's market share has slipped, and a new general manager must evaluate whether a change in strategy is warranted. Provides detailed information for Arborite and its competitors on the costs of performing the activities necessary to manufacture and market HPL.
Canon is one of the leading innovators in the world. This case describes the processes by which Canon manages the flow of ideas from basic science to new products, and how it harnesses product innovation to a strategy of diversification.
A portfolio strategist for the Pegasus Pension Fund, was reviewing a research paper investigating international tactical asset allocation that had been forwarded to him from a colleague. The president of the Pegasus Pension Fund had recently become concerned with the fund's shrinking surplus and had given a directive to the portfolio strategist to investigate new strategies that could enhance the fund's performance. He thought that adopting an international equity investment strategy might be appropriate to enhance the fund's performance. He was scheduled to make a presentation to the President the following week regarding the merits, risks, and possible introduction of one such strategy: international tactical asset allocation.
The environmental coordinator at the Chatham Assembly Plant of Navistar International Corporation, must develop a total waste management program which addresses both corporate waste reduction objectives and regulatory requirements. At the time of the case, a plant-wide waste audit had just been completed by an outside contractor in response to the introduction of provincial legislation, referred to as 3R Regulations. The environmental coordinator must assess the competitive implications of different alternatives, design the program, decide which materials will be recycled, identify who will be involved in implementation, and take into account the reaction of different stakeholder groups. (A sequel to this case titled Navistar: Environmental Management (B), case 9A96D002, is available.)
Dewar's, a major brand of Scotch whisky, produced by United Distillers of the U.K., and the U.S. leader in the Scotch category with a 15% market share, faced a declining market among traditional consumers of distilled spirits. Given the growing societal, legal, and regulatory opposition to drinking in the U.S., the marketing options were limited. In addition, drinking preferences had shifted away from distilled spirits to lighter, lower alcohol beverages like wine, wine coolers, and beer. In early 1993, Dewar's U.S. importer, Schieffelin and Somerset, in cooperation with the brand's longstanding advertising agency, Leo Burnett, began to explore the opportunities for repositioning Dewar's to younger adults. Repositioning Dewar's was a necessity for the brand to remain viable in the long term. Its existing customer base was aging, and younger drinkers who did drink Scotch were consuming less. The issue is how to update the brand's image to attract younger consumers. The brand manager faces the decision of planning the strategy for a repositioning or "recruitment" campaign for the brand.
Presents the story of Open Market, Inc., one of numerous companies formed in 1994 to engage in electronic commerce over the Internet. This case examines the company's development--its business strategy and organization evolution--as the company increased in size and gained a firm foothold in the uncertain electronic commerce.
Portrays the dilemma faced by Marsh Carter, CEO and chairman of the board of State Street Bank, in May 1995. For the past decade, the bank earned continually expanding earnings through its rapidly growing custody business. Now, as that business matures and custodial fees erode, Carter is seeking to expand the bank's presence in higher value-added financial services. Developing these will require the bank to build new sets of organizational capabilities to leverage and integrate skills located in different divisions of the bank.
Provides a brief overview of international bank lending to developing countries in the 1970s and its culmination in the Third-World debt crisis after 1982.